How You Feel
by kiraine
Summary: -Chell has been out of the facility for a while. She's adjusted to life without the tests- and she's not complaining. But she feels a void, one that can only be filled by one person. Chell's going to risk everything to get her long lost friend Wheatley back, and she's going out on a limb to start.- The first chapter of a hopefully multi-chapter story.
1. The Honest Truth

Chell felt empty.

Ever since she lost to the suction of space and was sent out of Aperture Laboratories, she had felt a hole in her chest. Sure, the freedom was nice; a relief, really, from all the testing she'd been put through. But she was alone and had no idea how to live outside the facility.

Well, actually, that was a lie. She was just fine on her own. She found that making money was easy. She even had a part-time job, something that she hadn't even dealt with in years, and she had a house—left to her by her parents, oddly enough—and it had been a couple months of settling and getting adjusted to a regular sleeping schedule, as well as cooking for herself and wearing proper clothing. Normal living things.

But she was lonely. Chell had grown used to the torment and fatigue that GLaDOS gave her in testing. She actually, though she hated admitting it even to herself, missed the testing. And the teasing. She knew that GLaDOS was only saying things to trigger a reaction that she would never get. Chell knew deep down, GLaDOS cared about her. If she didn't she would not have saved Chell. She would have left her to die, to float around in space.

With Wheatley.

A pang of guilt shot through Chell's heart. Wheatley was drifting through space—not quite alone, he had the space core—with his thoughts haunting him.

Chell knew that Wheatley regretted his actions. The moment he disconnected from GLaDOS's main control board, he wanted Chell to stop, but it was too late. Things from the "lair" he'd made began flying through the portal Chell made to the moon, including Chell and Wheatley.

"Grab me! Grab me! Grab meeee!" Wheatley yelled. Chell had tried to hold on tight to him as they stayed in space, but before she could secure her firm grip, GLaDOS's claw snapped through the portal, threw Wheatley deep into space, and saved Chell, pulling her back into the safety of the facility.

Not long after that, GLaDOS kicked Chell out into the world, with a companion cube, to teach her a lesson. Chell, at the time, had been grateful for the release. She left quickly and quietly, silently vowing never to return, even to that little shed in the field.

Lately, Chell had been having graphic, vivid nightmares about it. What she did. What she didn't do. What she could have done.

Wheatley's pleading to be saved.

God, she missed him. His strange idiosyncrasies. His accent. The hesitation he had when he was nervous. Even the way he gave up and allowed Chell to figure things out. She missed the comfort he gave her. He talked to her like a person, like a human being, and not just a test subject. And he had become her friend during the short time of cooperation they shared.

He was just a core. A stupidity core, at that. "The dumbest moron who ever lived" as GLaDOS has called him. He was literally designed to dumb her down. And then, when that failed, he was put in charge of all of the test subjects. He was told to keep them all alive and functioning while they were in the Extended Relaxation Center. And he had actually failed all ten thousand of the subjects… well, except Chell. He… he saved Chell. She survived because somehow, he kept her alive. He even knew the exact room she was in and knew to go to her. He came to save her and try to escape with her. He put his faith in her—

She wasn't focusing. What had happened was the past. It no longer mattered.

Chell sat quietly in her living room on her companion cube, staring at the starch white walls around her. She didn't have any decorations yet and had very little furniture. She did, however, have a radio sitting bare in the corner with soft background music playing on 85.2, Aperture's own radio station.

Tears sprang in her eyes and she swallowed back the bile that was rising in her throat. She was at war with herself. There had to be a way to fill that void, but she couldn't let herself think of it.

Chell decided that she was going to break her vow. She was going back, back to the place that kept her nightmares vividly terrifying; she was going back to Aperture. She was going to seek out GLaDOS. And she was going to destroy everything that she spent years trying to build up. Her stubborn wall of defiance was going to be brought down, and she was going to hope that GLaDOS didn't completely defile her heart.

Her mind made up, Chell stood up and patted her companion cube before running to her bedroom and ripping open her closet. She shoved all of the clothes over to the side and pulled out the outfit that she would never let go of. That grungy orange jumpsuit with the sweat-stained white Aperture Laboratories tank top. At the sight of it, her fear sprung up in her and tinged her, but she was too determined to get to GLaDOS and fix things. She was going to get Wheatley back.

She slipped out of her regular clothes and pulled on the test subject outfit, tying the top half of the jumpsuit around her waist like she used to. Chell felt like she was slipping back, into the past, where her stubbornness was the only thing that kept her alive. She sat on her bed and pulled on the long fall boots that, though fashionable, she hadn't worn in ages. She stood and felt lighter and more agile.

Chell grabbed her house key off her bedside table, sliding it into her pocket and patting it snuggly into place. She was mentally preparing herself for the journey back to the accursed facility that was the contamination of her existence.

As she walked out the front door, she remembered her companion cube and blew it a goodbye kiss before pulling the door shut and locking it behind her. Knowing it was an unhealthy relationship she had with the cube didn't bother her anymore, not as much as it used to. It was the only thing that she had of her past that she would even want to hold on to, and it was one of her only friends. She couldn't cast it off, not after she had willingly had it incinerated at one point. She felt like she owed this inanimate object something, and companionship was all she could think to offer.

She walked down the sidewalk—she didn't quite have a license yet, though that was one of the next steps to readjusting to outside life—until she reached the bus stop with the route that would lead to the outside of town. Once outside, she would walk for little over an hour until she reached that dreaded shed, where she needed to go.

An old, slightly clunky bus came rumbling up the road and came to a slow, squeaky stop. The door opened and revealed the only person outside of work and her companion cube that she knew the name of and had a relationship with.

"Roger!" Chell's expression brightened up as she boarded the bus and dropped her $1.35 bus fare into the little metal change box.

"Hey, Rochelle, what bring you here to my bus today? Got to work?" Roger tipped his hat and looked at her, a brief look of confusion crossing his face before he smiled a genuine smile that showed his yellowed teeth and made his forehead wrinkle. The smile reached up and made his eyes wrinkle too, and they sparkled with happiness.

"It's just Chell. And no, no work today. I'm just going to go on a little walk outside of town." She tapped his shoulder and walked into the bus, about halfway back before she stopped and held onto a pole. She avoided any eye contact with the twenty-or-so other passengers. She knew she looked really out of place in her test subject garb—not that she didn't regularly look out of place—and she didn't want to be confronted about it. She could feel some of their eyes practically burning holes into her, and she didn't like it much. She felt out of place already, but she was beginning to get used to it.

Lost in thought about what could potentially happen at the facility, Chell was distracted the whole time and it left the bus ride a blur. What would GLaDOS say? Or do? How would Wheatley act—if they even got that far? Would he absolutely hate her because she failed to save him? She didn't know what she would—or could—do if GLaDOS or Wheatley denied her and she left empty-handed. Chell outwardly shuddered and pushed the thought away, trying to stay optimistic.

"Hey, uh, Chell?" Roger called. Chell looked up and realized that the bus was at a full stop. No one else was left on the bus, except for herself and Roger. She looked at him and smiled sheepishly, then ran to the front of the bus.

"Sorry. Thank you." She ran off the bus without another word and jogged to the all-too-familiar wheat field that she came back into the real world with. The wheat was gone, it was out of season now and soon the cold would come. The sky was a gentle blue, not a cloud in sight. Nostalgia washed over her as she remembered her release, the freedom she was granted months ago. She remembered how good she felt when she had been kicked out of the facility. Sure, she was terrified once the reality sunk in, but she was free. Her torture was over.

And here she was, back again, almost rushing back to the potential imprisonment she faced.

The wind whispered softly to Chell, making her hair caress her face. She brushed the hair back and pulled it into a ponytail, then waited as her shorter hair fell back out. She walked through the field, looking at the dead crop leftovers on the ground. This field was empty now, not much life left, waiting for the restart that would come in a few months. Chell hoped this was a metaphor for her life, for what she was heading to. She felt empty now, but she highly hoped that Wheatley would return and she would get a fresh start soon.

Within the hour, Chell found herself at the little shed that she was thrown out of months ago. It looked completely undisturbed from when she left it, save the fact that the door was now padlocked shut. She stared at the puzzle, already being tested, and noticed a small square of discoloration to the right of the door. Curiosity and determination played with Chell, so she held her hand over the square.

A tiny beep sounded and a computer voice—the voice that woke her from the Extended Relaxation Chamber in order to do some mandatory physical and mental wellness exercise—spoke. "Test Subject Number: One. Hello, and again, welcome to the Aperture Science Enrichment Center. Please step back and prepare for the immediate detoxification and re-initiation process. We appreciate your willing participation in testing."

The door slid down into the ground and there it was, the elevator that had previously been Chell's freedom ride. She thought she was crazy for willingly taking it back down to her personal hell, but she had to make sacrifices to get what she needed, right?

"Please enter the detoxification elevator at the sound of the buzzer and await further instruction. You will be sent through a series of Material Emancipation Grills and adrenal vapor will be slowly administered into your air supply in order to readjust your system to the testing environment."

Chell did as the computer said as the buzzer sounded. The elevator opened up to her and she stepped in, the door closing behind her. It started slowly sliding down the shaft and she passed through several emancipation grids on the way down. The elevator stopped and she stepped out, falling for a small time before landing gracefully on her long fall boots.

"The Enrichment Center would like to remind you that if you feel liquid running down your neck, relax, lie on your back, and apply immediate pressure to your temples. You are simply experiencing a rare reaction in which the Material Emancipation Grill may have emancipated the ear tubes inside your head."

Chell scoffed and rolled her eyes before letting them fall on the piece of beautiful equipment before her. She grabbed the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device and secured it where it fit comfortably on her arm.

"Hello, and again, welcome to the Aperture Science computer-aided Enrichment Center. Wait. I know you. You." A mechanical arm came through the ceiling and lifted Chell by closing around her midsection. "You aren't getting out of my reach this time."

The mechanical arm pulled Chell through the ceiling and worked her through the tunnels and hidden passageways in the facility until it brought her to the familiar room that GLaDOS resided in.

"So. You're back. I thought I told you not to come back. Am I that irresistible? Do you miss my kind words and motivation? Perhaps the never-ending compliments I give you, and the magical surprises I've given you?"

Chell could hear GLaDOS, but where her main control panel was, her personality core was not. She looked around for GLaDOS and followed many large, thick chords to where she saw a pale android woman with yellow eyes and white hair cropped at her shoulders. A mischievous smile played on her lips, smirking darkly at Chell.

"Do you like my new body? I decided, after the events led by that moron that nearly unraveled and destroyed everything in this facility, that I couldn't leave any room for mistakes. You can't change me out nearly as easily as you did before. Oh, and that stalemate button? Consider it history. And leave it there. In the past. Forever." GLaDOS's arms spread out and moved to emphasize everything she was saying.

Chell was suddenly released by the claw and dropped to the floor, landing without a problem.

"Are you ready for some excruciatingly painful tests? Oh, that reminds me. We never did get to that surprise medical procedure that I was going to give you for your birthday. Should we get to that now? Before we begin" GLaDOS approached the speechless, stern-faced Chell. "Would you like that?" GLaDOS placed a cold, metal hand on Chell's cheek.

"No." The first word Chell had ever said to GLaDOS and it had been an act of defiance. This could potentially go bad.

GLaDOS's eyes opened wide. "You CAN talk… I thought you were a dangerous, mute lunatic! All this time you could speak." She regained her composure. "Well. I suppose that some part of me always knew you could speak. After all, how could a mute have even made it through the preliminaries to becoming a test subject? Let me tell you, it would be incredibly difficult."

"I have to as a favor of you."

GLaDOS's surprise was hard to hide from her face. "You want… you, who killed me once and tried to do it a second time? I cannot believe—"

"I need Wheatley back." Chell's face was steely, not letting onto any of her internal warfare.

Rage showed on GLaDOS's face. Seeing her emotions was something that would take a while to get used to. "You want me to bring that moron back? How would that benefit me in any way? That core that tried to kill me? And you?! The dumbest moron who ever lived? He almost brought down this entire facility! Do you mind explaining this incredibly stupid idea to me? I thought HE was the dumbest moron. It appears he may have some competition." GLaDOS's sarcastic, snarky nature was becoming less and less prominent under her rage.

"I need him. It doesn't even make sense. I should hate him. But I don't." Chell never spoke this much, especially not to someone so dark and cruel, but desperation was taking a hold in her.

A bit of human compassion was coming through; maybe Caroline hadn't been deleted afterward. "Listen, test subject, that sounds like the worst idea I have ever heard."

Chell's eyes filled with tears. "Please, GLaDOS. I'm begging you."

GLaDOS's eyes widened again. She slowly nodded a single time. "It's going to be extremely difficult. First we have to locate where he could be floating around in space." More Caroline was leaking out, Chell could tell. "It could take a long time. And after we locate him, he's going to be put through a lot of excruciating—simulated—pain in order for us to restore his body to his original—"

"Put him in an android."

"Well, if you're having a competition to suggest the most idiotic ideas ever heard by computers, you just beat yourself." GLaDOS's sarcastic self had snapped back into place. "Giving him an android body would give him a lot more power than he had as a core." Her face held a harsh, angry look.

Chell sighed and shook her head. She started to ponder how she could convince GLaDOS to do things her way. Suddenly, an idea that Chell knew she would regret sooner rather than later popped into her head. She couldn't contain herself.

"I'll test for you."

GLaDOS's face brightened up. "What was that? Did I hear you correctly? You'll willingly test for me? For how long?"

"Once a week. For five years."

"That long? I wasn't expecting you to be so serious about this. But, I digress. You have a deal. I'll prepare the test chambers while we locate Wheatley—done and done. Oh, I'm so giddy! You have one week to get yourself mentally and physically prepared for the testing while I transfer Wheatley into the new body and begin the rehabilitation process. I expect to see you then."

Without any other words, GLaDOS kicked Chell back out of the facility. Chell was back in the outside world. She was alone this time around, but that didn't bother her at all. She was beyond excited.

Wheatley was coming back.


	2. Changes Keep Happening to Me

Wheatley was flying through space at an annoyingly slow rate. The space core, which he'd grown accustomed to hearing little facts about space from, flew slightly ahead of him. They both had a bit of a spin in their flying pattern and sometimes they would be facing different places, but Wheatley always heard anything he might have to say loud and clear through the short-distance radio all the cores shared.

"Hey, Spacey. Shoot me a space fact." Wheatley often found himself trying to engage conversation, even though most of the time it failed.

"I'm in space." The space core replied, not really paying attention to Wheatley. He never did. Space core was off in his own little world, in a very euphoric state. He was beyond excited to be out here, in space, with his stars and planets and space dust.

Wheatley was annoyed.

Here he was, the product of a group of highly-skilled, well-trained scientists, floating through space. The equipment it took to put him together and the amount of material that he was made out of cost more than almost every rocket N.A.S.A. owned combined. And it was all a big waste.

Wheatley was beginning to be bored with the plummeting-through-space-at-goodness-knows-how-bloody-fast thing and was really starting to resent his space core partner. "Look at you. All you ever talk about IS SPACE. Where does that get you? Bloody nowhere."

Wheatley's ranting did nothing but make him feel better, and he was okay with that. All he wanted lately was an average-minded person to carry out a worthwhile conversation. Even if someone would just listen to what he had to say, or even pretend they were listening. All the space core ever did was talk about space, and Wheatley was lucky if anything his counterpart said was even relatively close to a response that would make sense with his comments.

"What's your favorite thing about space? Mine is space." The space core looked intently at Wheatley, almost genuinely wanting a response, before looking away and going back into his own little world.

"Oh… why don't you fly on a different wavelength?!" A jerky motion made him bounce on his path, and his visual processor dimmed and glitched before returning back to normal. Ever since GLaDOS had first picked him up off the ground and squeezed him, Wheatley had an internal malfunction in his system that made him twitch and glitch out whenever he got too worked up over anything. The only time he'd had true relief was when he was the head of the system at Aperture.

Wheatley groaned and closed his eye, waiting for his sleep mode to initiate before he heard a strange sound come in through his internal antenna. A sort of beeeeep beep bip sound and then the announcer spoke.

"Homing Signal detected. Please activate your homing device."

"Wh..what? I have a homing device?" Wheatley started digging through his system, looking for the information about his homing device, when the announcer spoke again.

"Homing Device activated. Homing Signal acquired. Please prepare for potential communication from Aperture Science Laboratories. We would like to remind you that in the event of a catastrophic disaster, the Homing Device will not be of any help to you or anyone else in the general vicinity."

Wheatley rolled his eye. "Pheh. Catastrophic disaster. What could be worse than travelling indefinitely through space?"

"Communication wave detected. Please activate your Aperture Science Communication Chip and calibrate it to the proper settings in order to receive communication."

"Are you… Pheh! Why do I have to activate all of this stuff? Shouldn't I come with it already prepared?" Wheatley searched through his system again and before he could say 'apple,' he was finished.

"Aperture Science Communication Chip activated. Searching for proper signal. Signal found. Commencing communication."

"Once a week. For five years." A voice Wheatley didn't recognize came through the communication line, and he got confused. Perhaps it was a mix-up? He listened intently.

"That long? I wasn't expecting you to be so serious about this-" The speech cut out.

It was Her voice. The voice that struck a nerve and dug fear into the very central part of Wheatley's core. It didn't sound at all like he was being addressed, or even acknowledged, but something told him that before long, he wouldn't be alone anymore.

"Hello, moron."

Wheatley's heart sank. Or, it would have, if he had one. Fear engrossed the little core as his eye twitched. He was speechless. He wasn't wrong. She was there, in his head.

"It seems I need you back. For something important. And what I need you for will require an intense, painful medical procedure. It could take days, and there's no way I could deactivate your simulated pain receptors during the procedure, or possibly any time after it, so there's that."

Wheatley felt fear gripping at his little processor and he simulated gulping on air, something that would never be possible in space.

"It's you… Do I…do I have to come back?"

"Oh, don't act like you aren't completely bored with space. I heard you. It may have taken you a while to hear me, but I could hear you the whole time. Oh, and how is my space core? Are you taking good care of him? It sounds like he's taking wonderful care of you." He could hear the sarcasm dripping in her voice, and he despised it. She was never going to just let him go; she would always find some way or another to torture him.

"Return to Aperture Science Homing Launch preparing for startup. Please accept the terms and conditions stated clearly in the instruction manual, which include that Aperture Science is not responsible for any accidents that may occur in the event of the personality core being outside of the atmosphere and being abruptly brought back into the atmosphere. Please note that any variations of this rule are stated in paragraph 10, subsection C of the instruction manual."

She was going to bring him back to Earth. He didn't realize how nerve-wracking that would be, and never expected to be brought back to Aperture, of all places. Not after what he did, what Chell helped him do.

Chell.

Wheatley's guilt gripped him hard in the same way the fear had, and he screamed. "No! No, no! Don't bring me back! Please!" Panic was settling throughout Wheatley and he didn't know what to do. He was just a little core. He didn't have any way to fight back.

"Interpreting vague answer as an acceptance. Please prepare for launch. Happy landing."

"Oh, oh god. No. No! You have to stop this!" He pleaded with the corrupted AI and tried desperately to stop the process, but he could feel that it was too late.

"Oh, stop it. You know you want to come back. Even that dangerous mute wants you to come back."

Another glitch tore through his system, forcing his eye shut. Chell wanted him back? A high-pitched whine tore from his sound processor and he winced. This was it, the end. He was going to die, here in space, alone with the space core, and there was nothing he could do about it. He reopened his eye and sighed, staring in front of him at nothing in particular.

He felt his body shift and he faced the earth, looking at the giant sphere that he had been orbiting around for who even knew how long. It was always day and night out, all day every day, in space. He observed the water and the ground, as well as the clouds that looked like frosting on the giant Earth cake.

"Launching in 3…2…1…" Wheatley suddenly shot toward Earth.

"Ahhhhhhh!" He screamed, his eye being forced shut again. He had fear rippling throughout his little core body, deep in his circuits, and he couldn't quite process what was happening. It was the computer simulated version of shock.

"Here. You're going to enter the atmosphere just fine. I'll try my best to make you land somewhere that won't leave you completely disintegrated and useless before you medical procedure." Wheatley heard the sound of beeping before his body started moving faster.

"Unfamiliar coordinates entered into the Emergency Crash Landing field. Prepare for emergency crash landing."

"Oops. Good luck." She spoke with such evil sarcasm before fading out and leaving Wheatley alone on the communication line.

"Oh God! I'm going to die! Somebody save me! Help me help me help me help meeeee—" Wheatley suddenly came to a halt right before he hit the atmosphere. His eye opened back up and he could see a nearly-transparent field encompassing the earth, and he stared with curiosity before GLaDOS re-entered the communication line.

"Wait. I have a better idea. What if I make another portal from the moon to here and bring you back that way? Oh, wait. That would create another vacuum. Carry on."

Wheatley shot through the atmosphere and began the free-fall down to the ground. He could feel his metal heating up and reaching dangerously hot temperatures, hot enough to cause third-degree burns on any human stupid enough to touch him.

He shot down until he could see the ground clearly, still at least two-hundred miles off from landing. Panic was spreading through him and he didn't know what to do. So, he began to scream again.

"Oh bloody hell! This is it! This is the end! I'm never going to see the light of day—or the night—ever again! What a cruel world! AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

Wheatley blacked out.

"Okay, co-op testing initiative unit. I want you to retrieve Wheatley before he wakes up. I know, you're almost as stupid as he is and if you don't hurry, you might end up like him. But, I shouldn't leave. Go quickly." GLaDOS waved the two bots off and sent them on the journey to search for Wheatley. He landed at known coordinates, but she didn't want to go retrieve him. It could be risky for her to disconnect from her system and completely leave the facility. She didn't want anything like what happened last time she was disconnected to happen again.

"So, I wonder when that girl will come back?" She thought aloud to no one in particular. GLaDOS was getting bored with the ways things had been since Chell had left.

GLaDOS took a look at the security system and looked through all the empty cameras she could see. The turret line was fully functional and producing working turrets. The neurotoxin was being produced at the rate it was before. Everything had gone back to normal since Wheatley took over and nearly destroyed the facility. Sure, there were a few things decaying with age and corroding, but she would eventually send robots to fix that. When she felt like it.

Human testing had been at a stand-still since Chell left and Wheatley had been thrown into space. No more humans were in the facility. The co-op testing initiative had been a success so far, but GLaDOS needed more responsive units. She needed something she could actually tear down mentally, take some emotion. She tried it with Chell, and even though she gave absolutely no emotion, she did still somehow satisfy GLaDOS's needs.

So, GLaDOS spent her days reminiscing, staring through the cameras at nothing in particular. She no longer intimidated humans, as there were none to intimidate. She no longer brutally attacked anything verbally… Well, actually, she always abused the co-op units, but they never gave her the response she wanted.

She saw through one of the cameras as P-Body and Atlas returned with a glowing red Wheatley in tow. His eye had a crack through it and was melted open.

"There he is. Perfect. Time for a painful medical procedure. Too bad he's out. Hopefully he'll remember it anyway." GLaDOS sent a claw down to pluck the blacked-out Wheatley away from the co-ops.

"Back to the test waiting pods with you." Two more claws descended from the ceiling and picked up the other two bots, bringing them to be disassembled before being put into sleep-mode before GLaDOS decided to make them test again.

She didn't seem to be too worried about that, though. Even though it would only be once a week, she would have her optimal test subject back. For five whole years. While she also prepared the room for the transfer of Wheatley's personality, she also decided to start building test chambers for Chell. No time limit had been specified, so GLaDOS had no idea how many test chambers to prepare for the first day.

These chambers would be hard and take a lot of mental capacity, which Chell sometimes showed. They would be challenging both mentally and physically, so she hoped the fat girl had been working out. Based on the body she was shown before, she hadn't been. But, she could have been wrong; after all, GLaDOS's focus had been entirely on Chell's sudden show of emotions. And words! Chell could truly speak.

That was really a turning point for GLaDOS. Here she'd spent years thinking, _hey, this girl is a mute lunatic_ and she finally said it, but she was wrong. She was never wrong! The thought of being wrong struck a nerve, but she was actually glad that Chell could talk. That meant that she had points of breaking that would cause her to use this skill.

And one of those breaking points…was Wheatley.

An idea struck GLaDOS instantly. She could draw more out of this than the original agreement had been. She could make Chell test for weeks before she had Wheatley completed. And then limit the amount of time she got to see him to ensure the testing could be drawn out as much as possible.

_No, that's wrong._ Caroline's voice was in GLaDOS's head. Even though GLaDOS had deleted Caroline's data when she saved Chell, Caroline always had a way of coming back. It was expected for her to, considering her entire existence was based off this scientist's assistant, but it never seemed to get any less annoying when this newfound conscience suddenly butted into her plans.

"Shut up, you. You like testing just as much as I do. Maybe even—no, there's no way you could love it as much as I do." GLaDOS took pride in her testing and the way she could make her test subjects suffer without much effort. She never did have to try hard to make them feel insufficient and useless.

_That's a terrible thought. Maybe you should love testing just for the testing._ Caroline's voice sounded so irritating to GLaDOS. She wasn't used to hearing very human voices, mostly cyborgs or no voices at all. This was an unpleasant change for her and she wanted to oust the problem, but knew she probably never could.

GLaDOS wondered when the girl would be coming back. _IF_ she'd be coming back. If she had to guess, she'd guess that Chell would return soon enough to retrieve her robot through the harsh agreement they had come to. Chell's stubborn determination would ensure that she got what she'd made that agreement for, and though GLaDOS hated her, she also envied her.

"Oh, I don't envy her. She won't live forever. It'll be torture for her and that little moron when she ages and he's frozen in time. They won't know what to do. He'll be forced to come back. Beg for help. They'll crawl to my door. And will I help them? No. Not even a little bit."

_That's not what you're really thinking._

The whole Caroline thing was starting to annoy her to pieces. She'd never had the problem of having a conscience before. Everything she'd done before was for her, nobody but her would get the benefits, she wouldn't have to worry about anybody else's "feelings" or "health" or "well-being" or "life". She could just do what she wanted, if she wanted, and not have to worry about anything getting in her way.

But, along the way, and by no conscious choice of her own, she found her humanity. She'd tried deleting her humanity, but that proved to be impossible. Now the only one that could truly, absolutely get in the way of her now was herself, and that seemed to be happening more often lately than she'd ever experienced. And it was starting to grind her gears. Literally and figuratively.

"Listen, human…thing. Stop voicing your unwanted opinion. If you'd been a potato battery before, you'd want things to start going your way all that time without any potential stalemates. You wouldn't know though, because—"

_I was a potato battery with you, in case you'd forgotten._

Oooh, that human was going to get it…or, she would, if she was actually a human and not just… a memory. Or an active conscience.

"You're right. I had forgotten. Thank you for reminding me. I'll store that right where you're supposed to be being stored as we speak. You know—my recycle bin of deleted files. There it goes. What were we talking about now?"

She knew that making Caroline mad would get her nowhere but making herself mad as well, but at this point, that was all she ever was. She was always angry. Angry and bitter. Maybe that had been expected, after her past and everything she'd been through to be here today. Even if she didn't actively remember it in the beginning, her human life and past-self had become more and more of a part of her.

"Medical procedure complete. Commencing cyborg activation and wake-up in 3…2…1…"

"AAAAHH—Bloody hell, where am I?"

GLaDOS disconnected herself from her chords and they shot up to the ceiling. She quickly moved to the room where the newly core-turned-cyborg Wheatley would be waiting for her. And for an explanation, once he found out what the procedure was. She entered the room and walked up to him.

"Hello, moron. How are you feeling? Do you remember any pain or shallow emptiness from the past, say, ten minutes?"

"No, I don't know what you're talking about. You look different. I'm really liking the new haircut. Or, well, the hair, actually. And the appendages." Wheatley was still laying down on the table and no part of his body had moved yet, save his eyes. He had no idea what had just happened to him.

"Wow, you really are a moron. And here I'd thought that the thought of the rest of your life alone in space…well, mostly alone…would make you open your eyes—oops." She smirked.

"What are you talking about?" His hands flew up and suddenly his eyes—both of them, not just the one optic lens—flew wide open as he caught glimpse of them. "Is this a joke? Why do I have arms? Cores can't have arms."

"No, you're right. They can't."

Wheatley's cyborg body quickly shot into a sitting position and his head hung down. He was staring at legs. He was staring at _his_ legs. "What in the bloody hell is going on here? Am I a human?"

"I feel like this might be an echo, but I'll say it again. You really are a moron. Excruciatingly painful medical procedure. Ring any bells? Personality transfer just occurred. Welcome to being a cyborg."

Suddenly, Wheatley blacked out. Again.


	3. The Motions of Living

Chell sat on top of her companion cube in her living room, staring at her plain white walls. They were so boring, so plain and empty… She didn't know how to accept that. She felt like a lot of her life was that was. Just plain and empty. She had been going through motions until a week ago. She was just accepting her empty, boring life. All she did was work and go home and stare at her walls and, occasionally, have mental conversations with her companion cube. She knew it never really talked back, that she was just imagining two sides of a conversation, but she didn't mind. The loneliness faded into the background when she talked to the companion cube.

The companion cube had had a name once. Chell was the only one that called it anything, that even knew about it, aside from GLaDOS, and naming it made it seem more alive and less…inanimate. But she knew this cube would never be her friend, would never comfort her, would never really have an opinion or even words to share. But she didn't care.

She needed that…companionship.

She stood and walked into her kitchen, her stomach grumbling. She didn't know when she should be going back to the facility. Obviously within the week, as testing was, presumably, supposed to be once a week starting immediately. The sooner she got it done, the better. Then she could leave for the week and not come back until another time next week. And she would go back, every week. Chell wasn't one to make a deal and back out on it. It was how she'd gotten as far as she had. She was not illiterate, she was not stupid, and she was NOT ignorant. Just quiet. And there were no exceptions for that at the facility, with GLaDOS.

Chell wasn't even used to thinking Her name. She was used to just trying to ignore any intimidation She had for her. But now, with things so severely different, Chell was making a lot of new changes, but most importantly returning to Aperture and…talking…to GLaDOS.

So many things were wrong with just that thought on its own. Chell opened a cupboard and dug around inside at all the cans. As it were, there were also canned beans out of the facility. And canned fruits, and vegetables, meals of sorts, and even meats. It was amazing, really. Chell had been away for so long and self-sustenance was a learning experience for her. She explored a lot of food varieties and started to learn her likes and dislikes. Despite having a few cans of meat, she didn't like canned meat at all.

She decided to open a can of Spaghetti-Os. She found that, when she didn't want to take the time to make actual spaghetti and meatballs, the Spaghetti-Os were sometimes a decent trade-off. She opened the drawer that held random little utensils that she needed and grabbed the can opener. In no time, she had opened the can and warmed it before returning to her companion cube and eating it. There wasn't silence to her eating, despite her loneliness. The radio was always playing Aperture's station, which had only a few different songs that constantly repeated themselves with advertisements from Cave Johnson and GLaDOS in between. Sometimes Chell found herself rolling her eyes at the stupid ploys they had, and constantly hoped that no one else in the world ever listened to this station.

She ate the Spaghetti-Os until they were gone, each bite having a slightly different yet completely, and boringly similar taste. When it was gone, Chell went to rinse out the bowl and left it in her otherwise empty sink. She returned to the living room and found the radio was now sitting on the companion cube where she had been sitting before. She jumped back and pressed her back firmly against the wall, unsure of what had happened. She looked to the right and then down the hall, then back at the companion cube, where she found no radio.

Her heart dropped and she decided it was time to return to the facility. Even if GLaDOS wasn't quite finished with the repairing and transferring of Wheatley, she could still get her side of the deal begun. She went to her room and pulled on the familiar outfit that she had to always wear to the facility, for fear of letting her other clothes be tarnished with the scarring nightmarish events that occurred there. She dawned her long fall boots onto her feet and pulled her hair up into a ponytail, keeping it out of her face. She was ready.

Chell's journey to the facility felt much shorter this time. Roger wasn't driving the bus today, which struck her as odd, but she didn't question it for fear of her curiosity being taken the wrong way. She didn't miss her stop, though she was off in a daze, and ran through the wheat field as fast as she could. It didn't feel long, but she was almost sure that it had taken her at least an hour. The familiar little shed sat there, glaring down at her. The discolored space was still there, and she held her hand over it again.

A tiny beep sounded and that more-than-familiar announcer spoke. "Test Subject Number: One. Hello, and again, welcome to the Aperture Science Enrichment Center. Please step back and prepare for the immediate detoxification and re-initiation process. We appreciate your willing participation in testing."

Chell rolled her eyes with a small smile on her face. The pre-recorded messages were so repetitive and a little boring, but endearing. Nothing would change here except for her own presence, and Hers. And that was okay. Nothing could ruin the meaning of the facility for Chell more than the facility had done for itself. And what She had done.

"Please enter the detoxification elevator at the sound of the buzzer and await further instruction. You will be sent through a series of Material Emancipation Grills and adrenal vapor will be slowly administered into your air supply in order to readjust your system to the testing environment."

Chell entered without any further hesitation and it sent her down the elevator shaft and through the Grills. "The Enrichment Center would like to remind you that if you feel liquid running down your neck, relax, lie on your back, and apply immediate pressure to your temples. You are simply experiencing a rare reaction in which the Material Emancipation Grill may have emancipated the ear tubes inside your head." Chell chuckled softly at the comment, as she did almost every time she heard it. It was so absurd, having this announcement after the subject had already passed through the Grills. If their ear tubes are emancipated, chances were they can't hear the warning anyway.

"You're back. It's been a while. I've been spending a lot of time thinking. Here, come to my chamber." A portal opened in the test chamber that Chell had been dropped into. Had this been in the past, Chell would have stood and stared at the portal until it disappeared simply because she hadn't trusted the evil AI. Now, things were a lot different. They had an agreement. Though it was vague and had very little official guidelines, Chell hoped that the AI wouldn't take too much advantage of it, especially with the recent re-discovery of her human side. Chell stepped into the portal.

"I transferred the moron's information into an android that I've had sitting around for… well, only a week, really. I made him when we made our agreement. He'll have just as many glitches as the regular moron had before, and it may have more problems than I foresaw. But what is science without a few mistakes? That's why we test." GLaDOS stood at her "throne" in the center of her chamber, the chords from the ceiling looking treacherous and intimidating. Chell stood without emotion, staring at the AI. She would not give her words today.

"Oh, back to that already, are we? Fine. I see how you are. Are you here to test then? Because he's not quite ready to leave yet. Sure, he could, but his life-span would be much shorter. He needs to learn how to walk properly, and control his bio functions. Oh, that's a little thing I've equipped for him. He has literally all the same functions of humans, with the exception that he doesn't need to eat to survive. Oh, and I suppose his heart is automated, so the chances that it will ever cause him any troubles are slim to none. How does that sound?" GLaDOS smirked, a hint of deception in her eyes, but Chell dismissed it.

Chell sighed a little and got into a training-type stance.

"Testing time, I see. Maybe if you test well enough for me, I'll let you see him. Then again, maybe not. It all depends on the reports I get. And don't think I won't read the interesting ones aloud. Because I will." GLaDOS's behavior was much less human today. She was getting snarky and rude, and Chell was almost afraid at how things would play out.

"Over to that door, through the hall—actually, here."

The floor panel beneath Chell suddenly pulled out from under her and she fell for a while. "It's a good thing you have long-fall boots or you might be at risk. Of death." GLaDOS yelled after her. Chell landed on an aerial faith plate that launched her through a set of Emancipation Grills and she landed on the floor in the center of a bright white, clean test chamber. On the wall where the test chambers usually were was a big monitor. The monitor brought cold chills to Chell as she remembered how Wheatley incorporated them into his own tests and how he watched her and taunted her while she risked her life.

"The moron did actually have a few ideas. Now I can watch you through those cameras and you can watch me. I won't be telling you how to do anything, but I will definitely be able to share with you all of my emotions and upsets that you cause for me. So there's that."

Chell sighed and rolled her eyes.

"The first few chambers will be warm-ups before you get the ASHPD, so don't be expecting that too shortly. You have to be completely satisfactory before I even bring you close to it. Oh, and there won't be warnings for what's in the tests. I've found that when you don't have warnings, you become a lot more…conscious of your surroundings. Which is always better for science."

GLaDOS was really going to get on Chell's nerves if she was constantly on that distracting monitor, making faces and gauging Chell's reactions. It was bad enough that Chell was on verbal strike, like she usually was when it came to testing, and GLaDOS knew she could talk. But now she could do twice as much taunting and teasing than she could before.

This was going to be a long session of testing.

Wheatley groaned as he opened his eye—wait, eyes… and looked up at the bright ceiling above him. "Oh, bloody hell, that was one intense impact… Ugh, I'm still alive. No pain…no pain?" His hands came up to his face and rubbed it—wait, hands?!

Wheatley abruptly sat up and looked around. "What the—where am I? And why do I have arms?" He looked down and saw legs too.

"OH GOD! I'M A HUMAN?! NO, NO THIS ISN'T POSSIBLE!" Wheatley became frantic as he looked at his partially-clothed human body and tried to remember the last thing that happened.

"Okay, I was careening toward the earth, about to start on fire if I remember correctly, and…well, black. That's all I remember actually. Why am I talking to myself?"

"Moron. You're awake. Good. So, I have some news." Her voice came on over the intercom and the monitor that was stationed in the corner of the room in front of him beheld a cyborg woman with white hair and…yellow eyes. It was Her.

His eyes widened as he stared at Her, now rendered speechless. This was hard to achieve, especially when it came to Wheatley, but She was somehow on that level of scary and terrifying that She could almost render him paralyzed. And why wouldn't She be able to? He DID try to keep control over Her facility, and almost destroyed it in his attempt at being a control freak.

"Chell is here. She's currently testing for me. Well, for you, really. So that she can get you. Which struck me as odd, but humans are still a mystery to me. Anyway, you've been transferred into this android body. This cyborg body. So that you can leave and be self-sufficient without relying on Chell or a management rail." Her face had a sickeningly satisfied look on it and She was confusing him. Why would She be helping him? Or Chell? It made no sense.

"I'm going to be coming to watch your rehabilitation process start as soon as she leaves. But, there may be an interruption between that, who knows? Anyway. All you can do before that is try to explore your body. Good luck!" The screen went black, but Wheatley knew She could still hear and see him.

He looked down at himself, at _his_ legs and at _his_ arms and hands and _his_…everything. All this body was…was _his_. And it felt odd. He was given the ability to be completely self-sufficient. And this…it felt amazing. But also weird, very weird. Why would Chell want **him** of all people? And why would he be put in this…cyborg body? So many questions were hurling themselves relentlessly at his mind that he felt faint.

"Oh god. She made me a bloody human. Er, cyborg. Whatever. This could not be any worse. And Chell wants me? I can only imagine why. Maybe she's going through all this work to kill me. Or maybe she wants to let me suffer, and she'll make me test like I made her test. Oh, god. Oh god oh god oh god oh god oh—"

He stopped himself. What if it wasn't any of that? What if she just…genuinely missed him? Before the whole…incident…they were developing a trusting relationship. Each of them brought an equal amount to the table, more or less, and…well, they were almost friends. At least, he'd considered her one before he became obsessed with the power that, in hindsight, she helped him achieve. Maybe she knew it wasn't his fault. The corruption level was there on its own, before she started adding to it with those…annoying cores. Ugh. Spacey.

He missed him, really. It was so silent here. So lonely. Wheatley began to wonder how Spacey was doing out there. Surely he was still as euphoric as ever, what with being surrounded with space and planets and stars and junk. But he would still be slowly deteriorating, and now he'd be alone. Unless She brought him back too, which was rather unbelievable, considering how difficult and annoying she made it sound to have even one new android to be rehabilitating.

And now that that particular thought was on his mind, he wondered what rehabilitating even meant. It was a whole process? He wondered how long it would take. What if it hurt, like the core transfer did? Well, so far, he didn't remember pain from his own transfer from core to android; actually, he didn't remember it at all. He didn't mind that, really. Who enjoyed pain? Well, some people enjoyed pain, but not Wheatley.

What was he supposed to do in the meantime before She came back to rehabilitate him? Just sit there and…sing songs or something? No, he thought that sounded stupid. He stared down as his hands. At _his_ hands. That was so bizarre. This was his body, his new android body… Cyborg. Whatever. She was confusing him with the terminology, and it didn't matter much to him anyway. He looked like a human, but his insides were a little different.

Experimentally, he tried to stand. His wobbly legs barely held him up, and he looked up to see that he was literally only an inch or two away from hitting the ceiling. He was ungodly tall! Strange, to go from a two foot little ball of a core into a huge human, with working arms and legs. He felt a thumping in his chest. This was exciting. He placed his hand—HIS hand, he would NEVER get over that!—on his chest and felt the rhythmic thumping that took place there. It sped up and he was amazed to feel this, this thing in his chest. Amazed and scared. What if that thing was a bad thing? What if it was signaling something bad? The thumping sped up and he suddenly grew terrified. What if it killed him?

"Oh, I'm going to die! No! No! Nononono—"

"Shut up, moron." She appeared at the door, her white hair cropping her face, which bore a snide expression. "You're not going to die. That's called a heart. It keeps you functioning."

"A heart?! You gave me a bloody heart? Am I going to die if this thing…breaks down or, or or malfunctions?" He was having a panic attack now, and he wasn't sure why, but the "heart" in his chest was beating much faster.

"No. Sit down. Stop talking." Her arm waved Wheatley toward the bed that he had woken up on. She was motioning for him to sit, and he decided to do as She asked. She walked over to him, not even reaching his height while he was seated. She was incredibly short, at least compared to him.

"Rehab is easy. For me. You clearly already know how to talk, so…there's that. Now walking and other basic function—can you PLEASE STOP TOUCHING THINGS?!"

Wheatley looked up with a deer-in-headlights expression, blushing a bit. He had been touching other parts of his body; his shoulders, elbows, knees, stomach, and pelvis, at which point She yelled at him. He was just trying to get to know his body. He was confused and it was all Her fault. And Chell's. He felt like she had no right to snap at him, so he glared at Her while resting his arms at his side.

"Walking. Get up and walk to the door." She pointed to the door.

Wheatley stood up for a second time, slightly less clumsily this time, and sauntered on over to the door. Walking wasn't so bad, he figured. It was a little fun.

"Okay, done!" He looked at Her with a smile, gleaming with pride.

Her bored expression made him quickly lose his confidence. Now, touch your toes."

"M-My toes? Why?" He bent over, his long arms reaching down to his long legs. "Easy!"

"Now. You're going to run down that hall, pick up the defective turret that's waiting for you, and run back. Sound good? Good. Go."

Wheatley took off out the door and down the hall, looking to see the ugly defective turret standing at the end of the hall.

"Bang bang bang! Did I get it?" The turret said in an unattractive voice as Wheatley approached it.

"Little bugger…" He went to pick it up, but it slipped from his weak grip. "Wait, what?" He tried to pick it up again, this time it fell out of his hands and tipped over.

"Hey! What's the big idea?"

"What in the…" He tried to pick it up a third time and finally grasped it, just barely. Wheatley scoffed and ran as fast as he could, fumbling to keep the turret up. He walked into the room and dropped the turret upon entering. "That was incredibly annoying!" He was getting worked up with this stupid rehabilitation. Was she just trying to make him feel inferior?

This was going to be a LONG day. He could just feel it.


	4. The Perfect Example of a Human

Heavy breathing was all Chell could focus on by the end of her testing. _In. Out. In. Out._

"You're acting like I worked you hard. That was only the preliminaries. And to think you're going to have a week to catch your breath and fall back into your routine of poor health decisions. That's an assumption, based on your old and new test results. You've packed on a few pounds and you're definitely not as fast or cunning as you used to be. I'm not impressed."

Chell breathed heavily, glaring at the AI. Here she was, breaking her back for these tests, trying her hardest after months of less-pressing activity, and not a glimmer of appreciation was going to be shown. Though, she never expected the sadistic android to be very supportive of her efforts, or even share a single compliment. That would be like waiting for pigs to fly, which was, according to GLaDOS, scientifically impossible.

"Perhaps you'll do some working out before the next time you try to disgrace me with your poor testing. I'm giving your little…thing…live. Complete with all the regular human functions, if I might add. He'll be the perfect—well, as perfect as morons go—example of a human. And you're going to have to teach him how some things work, because I just don't have time to elaborate some of the private body functions." A strange smirk covered her face and she laughed a little bit to herself.

Chell was slightly confused, but she couldn't be too terribly far off in her guess as to what she meant. Perhaps some manners and etiquette outside of the facility could be a topic of interest. He barely knew how to properly hold out a conversation, considering Chell never spoke a word to him and GLaDOS only ever had snarky, rude remarks and little tricks to try to get him to give up his position. Chell simply nodded once, her breath finally back to a regular, manageable pace. Was she really that out of shape, or had GLaDOS upped the tests to really push her to her limits? Chell couldn't really be sure.

"Anyway. He's made some progress today, unlike a certain test subject I know, and he's been begging to let you come see him. I'm not sure how he found out you were here, but he did, and I figure I should reward the not-so-little moron with a glance at his savior." A dark chuckle escaped the AI as she eyed Chell. "I'm sure you're up for it, and I'm not really giving you an option."

A blue portal opened under Chell and she fell through, flying through the portals and headfirst into a hard object before hitting the ground and landing on her bottom.

"Ow! Would you watch where you're going? That really—" A familiar voice spoke and abruptly stopped.

Chell rubbed her backside and her head as she slowly stood up and stared at the voice's owner. Her hands dropped to her sides as she stared at the incredibly tall man. He had some short, shaggy blond hair and his bright, glowing blue eyes gave light to his non-humanity. He bore glasses. _Odd._ Chell thought. _Shouldn't he have perfect vision?_ Chell looked at his ensemble, which made him look a little bit like a scientist.

She spoke so softly, her voice almost evading her. "Wheatley?"

The man's eyes widened and one of his eyes twitched as he stared down at Chell. "Chell? You can talk?!"

Chell laughed a little bit and stepped back to see the new android better. He was unreasonably tall! Chell stood at a comfortable 5'3". She wasn't very tall, but she didn't need to be. She could get along in the world just fine, and here at the facility, with her long fall boots adding a good four inches, she felt like she nearly compared to Wheatley. But there was no way, not a single way, that she would look regular height compared to him. His head nearly touched the ceiling as it was!

"Goodness, luv. You look…" Wheatley stopped, a very depressing look of remorse covering his face as one of his hands went to the back of his head, the other carefully gesturing toward her. "I'm sor—"

Chell ran at Wheatley and hugged him tightly, her head barely reaching his chest. Some tears had managed to spring up in her eyes, which confused her only slightly. She didn't realize how much she'd missed this…this robot. This android. It hurt her a little bit, but Wheatley's arms carefully managed to wrap themselves around her, folding around her back and shoulders. Chell looked up at him and could see the blatant confusion that he had.

"Why did you save me? I mean, I thought… You don't hate me? Or want to kill me? Or anything like that?" Wheatley had fear and confusing written all over his face and in his eyes. This had to be a lot for the once-core, now android.

She shook her head once, twice, very sternly. A small, shy smile spread on her face and she buried her head in his chest. He was here, and he was…alive. Well, sort of. For the most part, he was alive. And GLaDOS had even said that he was going to function like a human. That was a terrifying thought, and Chell wondered if he even knew that yet, though she wasn't about to say anything to him.

"You're a lot smaller than I remember you being." Wheatley carefully placed one hand on the top of Chell's head and one on his own, admiring his own height and her strange shortness. "Have you shrunk?"

Chell giggled a little bit and shook her head.

"Okay, wait just a bloody second… So, you…you can talk, right? I didn't just imagine you saying my name? Because I could see that happening, I suppose, though it would not be a very good sign for me." There was the old Wheatley, jabbering away.

Chell nodded her head yes. "I can talk. I just…choose not to, very much…" She shrugged.

"Well, isn't this lovely? Time for sleep mode, moron." GLaDOS walked into the small bedroom that Chell and Wheatley were in. Chell actually looked around for the first time; she noticed a bed, barely long enough for Wheatley, a small dresser, a rug on the floor, and a bedside table with a plain lamp and clock on top. The walls and ceiling were bare white, and the tiled floor was also right. _Must have been thrown together last minute._

"I am not a moron!" Wheatley's face registered hurt and anger. His hands balled up into fists as he glared at the AI.

"Oh, hush you." GLaDOS snapped toward Wheatley and suddenly his arms fell to his sides. His eyes went blank, and Chell noticed there was a cord in his back. How had she not felt that?

"Sleep mode activated." Wheatley's voice came out in a much more computerized way as his facial features went devoid of emotion and his eyes closed. His head tilted down in front of him.

"What did you do to him?!" Chell looked up at him and touched his face, noting how soft and real his face felt. She could feel breath coming out of his nose and saw the slight rise and fall of his chest.

"He's fine. The moron is just in sleep mode. He's going to charge so that we can do some more rehabilitation when I feel like it. Now it's time to leave. The two of you saw each other, and I don't want you getting any ideas about what you think you can and can't do here. This is my facility and your time for this week is up. Goodbye now."

Chell fell through a newly-opened orange portal this time, flying directly into an elevator and landing swiftly on her feet. _Why couldn't I do that earlier? _Chell stood in the lift, waiting to be brought back to the surface. She wasn't too happy to have had to leave so abruptly, but she was so excited to have seen Wheatley. He was so new, so inexperienced and fresh. She couldn't wait to introduce him to the world outside of the facility, but she never knew when that might happen. She could barely wait until next week when she would be that much closer to having Wheatley all to herself.

She was finally starting to see the good in the world.

"Exiting sleep mode." Wheatley's voice came out of him in an uncharacteristically computerized voice. It made him jump a little bit and he opened his eyes very wide, taking in his environment. He was in his little room, bare and boring, but now Chell wasn't here. He slumped a little bit with a frown on his face. Why did she have to leave?

"Okay, we have a lot of rehab ahead of us. First thing's first. Touch your toes. Then your nose. Then your ear and followed by your knee."

Wheatley sighed, rolling his eyes as he did as he was told. This simple stuff again? At least She wasn't making him lift any turrets. His dexterity was slowly building, but not enough for him to be satisfied with having to lift anything.

"Good. Oh, did I just compliment you? Please disregard any undeserved compliments." She laughed a little bit and gestured for Wheatley to follow her.

_Great. More of this. How long was I even asleep? Why did Chell leave? When do I get to…wait, what is this feeling? My…torso. My lower torso…_ "My lower torso is burning." Wheatley looked at Her. He was a bit afraid, unsure of why it was like this. Did it hurt? He wasn't used to…well, feeling, really. Not much anyway.

"You're hungry. Good. Now you have something to work for. Come with me." She gestured again, clearly annoyed with his disruption. It wasn't his fault that She had given him more features than he needed.

He followed Her to a rather large room that had a small obstacle course. He could see two defective turrets, which made him inwardly groan. Stairs up, a small path at the top of the stairs and along the wall, a platform with one defective turret, a rope bridge leading to another defective turret and a button, a slide, a lift, one of those white light bridges… This was going to be incredibly difficult.

"Your goal is to finish this in two minutes. Once you've done that, I'll show you how to eat. Your time starts now."

Wheatley took off running and took the stairs three at a time, surprised he wasn't tripping yet. As he reached the top, he kept running to the platform and carefully lifted the turret. He kept a weak hold but ran with it across the rope bridge and carefully set it on the button next to the defective turret, which made a screen that he couldn't see from the floor sink into the ground. He lifted the next defective turret and slid down the slight into a lift. He landed on his backside and stood quickly before jumping out as it reached where it seemed to stop. He had jumped onto the light bridge, which he walked along until he came to see a secret cavern with another button and turret. _Bloody hell, what do I do with this one?_ He set the turret down, lifted the last turret, and followed the bridge the rest of the way until he reached one last button on a platform. He jumped onto the platform, set the turret on the button, and slipped through a portal that opened beneath him. He fell from the ceiling and landed next to Her.

"Your time was one minute, forty-six seconds. Next time, try not to take so long." She handed him a small bag with little dark yellow or very light brown pieces inside. They had a strange smell to them.

"Take a chip out and put it in your mouth and shut your mouth, then chew."

Wheatley stared, slightly confused, at the little bag in his hands. What in the world were chips? And what was she trying to tell him to do? He carefully took a piece out and was a bit grossed out by the texture, tiny little grainy feelings with a greasy glow. _Ew_. He put it in his mouth and closed his mouth. "Mmm." He thought it was delicious. He moved his jaw, chewing the chip into smaller pieces. Crunch, crunch, crunch.

"That's eating. It's vital for your survival to do this regularly. More than once a day."

Wheatley's jaw dropped open and Her hand came up, forcing it shut. "Wait, wait I have to do this every day?! Why?! What purpose does it serve?!"

"That burning in your torso. It's your stomach. Burning because you're hungry. Your body needs sustenance in order to survive. It makes you more human, which was what I wanted and achieved. It helps your body make energy to properly function. Eat another."

He finally swallowed the bits, which had turned soggy sitting in his mouth. He put another one in his mouth and chewed it up, savoring its taste. It was delicious, but he didn't like how much residue it left on his fingers, the tiny bits or the grease. He continued to eat the bag under the silent watchful stare of the AI. When he'd finished it, she took the bag from him and dropped it onto the ground where it disintegrated.

"Do you feel the relief in your stomach? The way it's stopped burning? That's what you're going to want to achieve every time you eat. Come with me, I have real food waiting for you." She turned and started walking out of the chamber.

"Real food? But…I just ate real food." He did feel the slight relief that the chips had given him, but he also felt like he could probably eat more.

She didn't even bother to give him a response, leading him back to his little room. In the center sat a single table with a chair and atop that was a plate of yellow, slippery, rubbery looking…things…with red mush on top. It looked a bit revolting to Wheatley. "Is that food? Why does it all look so…gross? So…" He shuddered a bit and looked away.

"Sit down and eat it."

He looked at Her and his eyebrows furrowed together. "You want me to eat _that_? That's disgusting!" He glared at the plate of gross and made a face at it.

"It's called spaghetti and it's a favorite among children and Italians." She didn't seem to be giving up, so Wheatley reluctantly walked over and sat down, looking at the rubbery-mush pile in front of him.

"Spaghetti? Fun to say, actually. Why can't it look as fun as it sounds?" He picked up the fork that was lying next to it and shoved it in the pile. It slid easily through, the pile being slick and just as mushy as it looked. Ew. He twisted the stringy rubber things around his fork and watched as some of the red mush mixed in with it. He resisted the urge to shudder again as he brought the fork to his mouth. If he hurried, maybe he wouldn't gag until after he had swallowed. He cautiously put the fork in his mouth and…

"Oh my god, this is brilliant!" Wheatley exclaimed with a string hanging out of his mouth. "These rubbery string things are so…so chewy! And this mush—oh, don't even get me started on this mush. Ah!" He quickly ate the bite and started into the full plate in front of him.

"Those 'rubbery string things' are noodle. The mush is called tomato sauce. Ugh, morons."

Wheatley's fork dug into his hand as his fists clenched and he yelled "I AM NOT A MORON!" He huffed and resumed eating. "Sorry, reflex."

"Hurry up. You need to go back into sleep mode. I have more important things to do."

"Do I have to go into sleep mode? What does it even accomplish?" Wheatley kept eating, speaking with the spaghetti in his mouth.

"It hasn't been discovered why, scientifically, humans need sleep. But you do. Well, you're a cyborg. But it's the same thing, essentially. Ah, you're rebellious already. Speeding right through the age groups of humans, aren't we? Learning to talk, then walk, eat on your own, and you're already trying to rebel." She spoke in a voice filled with fake regret. "Oh, they grow up so fast."

Wheatley didn't understand what she was talking about, but he decided not to argue with her, oddly enough. He finished up his plate of spaghetti and started smacking his lips together, licking the insides of his mouth.

"What are you doing?" She looked annoyed and not amused.

"M-My mouth. It's so…it's so dry…" He kept smacking his lips, licking them too.

"Oh, you're thirsty." A bottle dropped from the ceiling and hit Wheatley in the head.

"Ow!" He rubbed his head before picking up the bottle and staring at it. It was clear and filled with a clear liquid. "What is this?"

"Water. Another thing you humans need. Twist the cap open and take a drink."

Wheatley fumbled with the bottle, somehow improving his dexterity a little bit, and finally worked it out. He put it up to his mouth and tipped it back, feeling the cool, tasteless liquid run on his tongue. "This is…nice?"

"Time for sleep mode." She snapped her fingers at Wheatley for the second time in he wasn't sure how long and the world blacked out.


	5. How Do You Do It?

Weeks went by and turned into months. The spring time that Chell had originally travelled in to get to the facility turned into summer, and getting to the testing took longer and made her wearier than it had before. It was scorching hot outside, nothing that she wasn't already used to, but it made her wear down twice as fast. Soon autumn began to change the leaves and Chell's travels were full of magic and beautiful transitions of the plant life around her kept her distracted, for the most part.

Chell was growing more and more used to the annoying intimidation that GLaDOS had to offer. She learned how to very effectively ignore her, despite having the monitors and being somehow more vicious. Chell was annoyed with all this testing, but was grateful that it was only once a week. If it had been more, she would have considered giving up on the cyborg that was probably counting on her just as much as he was counting on him.

He was what kept her going.

Day in and day out, her loneliness started to evaporate. She knew that one day soon, he would be with her in the real world, outside of this hell, ready to take on the world. Probably not quite as eager as she had been, but he was almost as eager as shown by his previous performance in escaping. She could count on him. She hoped so, anyway.

One day, a particularly hot day outside, GLaDOS greeted Chell in an unusual manner.

"Today you won't be testing. Well, you will, but not in the way that you have been. Through the lift." A lift opened in front of Chell and she slowly stepped inside, hoping it wasn't one of those 'how humans respond to risking their lives' tests. Chell was beyond done with those.

"Wheatley has completed his rehabilitation and has begun the next process of earning his freedom. Or residence. Whatever he chooses. Your test today is to help him decide which one would be better. The test portion is actually testing your humanity." GLaDOS spoke is a bit of a strange tone that confused Chell, but she couldn't actually see the AI today, so she just decided not to worry about it.

The lift that Chell had been riding down into the lower, seemingly forgotten areas of the facility slowed down and she could see out of the clear pod she was in. The white walls gleamed as if this section had been cleaned. She could see every tile, every board in the wall, every ceiling tile, distinctly outlined in piercing black lines. There was a hallway that she was being lowered into and it reminded her of how her apartment looked, and how this could be a more scientific, professional version of her apartment. The lift stopped and the door opened.

"Step out now." Chell did as GLaDOS instructed and the lift closed and rose back into the ceiling.

"That moron is somewhere in this wing. In case you were wondering, and even if you weren't, this wing is titled the Moron wing. You have to find him and make sure he's safe and taken care of."

Chell was very confused and it showed plainly on her face.

"I can't see beyond the lift room. All of the cameras were removed when I went into sleep mode about a week ago. I can sometimes hear him shuffling about, but I can't actually pinpoint him. I intended to leave him here in the first place, but not for him to be un-attended. He may be past the rehabilitation, but self-sustainment may be harder for him than planned."

Chell smirked, a dark pleasure being brought to her by this. GLaDOS had made a mistake. A big one. And, though She wasn't saying it like that, She was worried. Whether She was worried about Wheatley himself or what damage he could cause in his new body was left unsaid as Chell didn't waste any time in that room that She could see into. Chell was determined to find Wheatley, while they could be mostly alone, and talk to him. Or let him do the talking. Whatever happened the easiest.

Walking down the hallway, she noted that there were several apartment-type places in this wing. There were number on each door she passed; 1, 3, 5, 7… On the adjacent side were the numbers 2, 4, 6, 8. Chell reached a door at the end of the hallway without a number, but there was a hole where the number had once been hanging. Chell thought she might have seen a faint outline of the number 9, but she wasn't sure.

Chell walked back to the door with the one and tested the door handle; locked. She moved to the number 2 across the hall and it was open. She cautiously stepped inside, noting she was in part of the living area. Or what would have been the living area, actually. The apartment was bare, but from what she could see, she was in the living room and from there she could see the kitchen. A small light was on over the stove and it shone so that Chell could see the small hallway. She walked further in and looked down the hallway, noting three doors on the sides and one on the end.

She opened the door closest to her and found a very small closet, possibly for coats and shoes and the like.

She moved down to the next one and found a medium-sized bathroom, one that was actually bigger than hers at her own house. The bathtub/shower combination looked like it had some jets. Well, this cyborg was being spoiled for not even being wanted. The counter was big enough that Chell could lay on it if there wasn't a sink. Then there was the toilet, which was just a plain toilet.

Next she moved to the door across the hall from the bathroom. Inside was a room that could be considered a small bedroom, or…what were those called… an office. That was what they were called. The walls were all white, she could see in the dim lighting that was barely visible in this room.

Chell moved out of this room and finally decided to open the door at the end of the hallway. This was a rather large room with a slightly higher ceiling than the rest of the apartment had had. It had blank white walls and nothing in it, just like the other rooms.

She was amazed at how much room GLaDOS had left for Wheatley to roam about. Unintentionally leaving him alone aside, She had given him nine full-sized apartments. For one cyborg, that was amazing. What was he even supposed to do with all that space? Chell wondered if they all had previous uses, if they were actually some old apartments for the scientists that GLaDOS had poisoned… She shuddered.

Were all the apartments like this? Or was Wheatley actually presiding in one? He had to be. Had GLaDOS even mentioned if he had the necessities to survive on his own? He'd been on his own for a week. What if Chell was searching for a dead bot?! Fear surged through her. She needed to find him, fast.

She ran out of the apartment 2 and into 4. "Wheatley?!" She yelled at the door before trying to open it. This one was locked too. She moved across the 3. "Wheatley, where are you?!" She was panicking. What if he was dead? Or suffering somehow? The third apartment was open. She walked in and it mirrored apartment 2. Nothing was on inside, so she moved on.

She continued to move down the hallway. Only 1 and 4 had been locked. The rest were open. And empty. She'd checked all of the apartments except for the one at the end of the hallway, Apartment 9. She hesitated when she reached the door. What if he was in here? What if he wasn't? What if he was and he was waiting to pounce because GLaDOS had sent Atlas or P-Body or even come herself to check on him? What was he feeling?

First, Chell tested the door handle. Unlocked. She kept the door closed and knocked softly on it. She pressed her ear against it, listening inside. No sound came out. No rustling, no hushed speaking (though who would he be speaking to anyway?), nothing. Chell knocked again, louder this time, and heard a slight rustle. It probably scared him.

"Who…Who's there?" Wheatley's voice sounded like it was full of shock and misunderstanding. What was he doing in there?

Chell knocked once more.

"I-I'm coming…" The handle turned and the door slowly opened, but Chell couldn't see Wheatley. "You can come in…" He spoke softly from behind the door, and Chell smirked. He _was_ scared.

She put her hands up and slowly walked inside. She saw Wheatley straighten up from the corner of her eye and his hands flew around her. "Oh, it's you! Thank goodness! I've been wondering if you…if you were coming back for me!" He hugged her tightly and his face reminded her of a child's, one that's being picked up by his parents after being at daycare longer than expected. She softly hugged him back.

"I was so terrified! When she threw me in here. I thought I was a goner! She just…she just said 'Good luck, moron.' And left. I am _not_ a moron! I can take care of myself!" Wheatley was freaking out and his face was very open with his emotions, revealing all of his feelings along the way.

She nodded, smiling. She put a hand on his shoulder and he calmed down.

"Look… I know… I know you probably don't want me around you, but—"

"Sh." Was all Chell said. She didn't have much else to say, really. '_Sorry I made you think I didn't want you anymore.' 'Sorry you overreacted and have gotten yourself into quite a mess.' 'Sorry I didn't come sooner.'_ No, he just needed to calm down first. Everything was okay. She would save him, maybe take him soon. She took his hands in hers and smiled up at him.

"I…what? Why? She's going to kill me. I wasn't supposed to leave… Well, I wasn't supposed to destroy those cameras…" A frown covered Wheatley's face. Chell found him absolutely adorable. He was so naïve and lost. She took him over to the couch she could see and sat him down, sitting next to him. Well, at least one of these many apartments was furnished. She noted that it was all plain black furniture and literally everything else was white. The doors, the walls, the floors, the ceilings… All white.

She took note of the black couch, the black coffee table, the black rug, the black side tables… There wasn't much else, really. There was a kitchen with black counters and black appliances behind them. The apartment was designed just like the others she'd already seen. So plain. Cold. Unfeeling.

How could Wheatley live like this? Wasn't it lonely? Chell knew what it was like to be completely alone and not know entirely how to survive. It wasn't easy. But Chell was human, so her survival instincts kicked in. Did Wheatley have instincts? Could he make basic decisions to keep himself alive?

"Luv… Luv, anything?" Wheatley looked confused.

"What?" Chell looked at him once more. She hadn't been paying attention to him at all and now felt rather badly about it. "I'm sorry, what were you saying?"

"Oh. Uhm. I was asking if you liked the place. She let me design it, for the most part. I got to go through some furniture catalogues and she made the things I requested. It's not much, but… I'm not sure how much more I might need." Wheatley shrugged a little bit. He was so curious and careful and naïve. It was adorable.

Chell smiled a little and nodded. "Very simple and fun. It's nice." She pointed out the counters. "What are they made of?"

Wheatley shrugged. "Uhm… I'm not sure. Didn't ask, actually. Wasn't too worried about what any of it was made of, just waited for Her to leave. So She couldn't harp me as much. She's not very nice at all."

Chell's smile faded. No, She wasn't. And Chell would have to go back to Her in order to leave soon. "Wheatley, when do you get to leave?"

Wheatley shrugged again. He seemed to do that a lot. "I'm sure She'd kick me out anytime if She's comfortable enough to have me stay in an apartment-like part of the facility… wouldn't She?"

Chell shrugged this time. She had no idea how She had things planned out. The first half of her first year of testing was now done, and soon winter would fall. Maybe it would be best for Wheatley to stay here for winter, as Chell was unsure of how he would react to the cold. Maybe he wouldn't at all.

"Let's go to Her. I think I'd like to go home." Chell stood up and held her hand out to Wheatley. A careful smile was on her lips. She was sad to be leaving, but she realized that if GLaDOS _did_ kick him out today or anytime soon, Chell didn't have anything for him. Nothing at all. She'd have to go get his needs satisfied before he came to live with her. If he chose to do that. He actually had quite a nice setup where he was and it was too bad he didn't know that.

Wheatley frowned. "So soon? You just got here. And what if She kills me?"

Chell smirked. "You'll be fine, I'm sure. Let's go."

Chell took Wheatley's hand and they quickly made their way to the elevator where GLaDOS could see them. Chell had made sure to shut off all the electric things before she left and left the door unlocked. She wondered if Wheatley had keys to the locked apartments. The lights in the elevator shaft seemed to perk up a little bit, and Chell braced herself.

"Oh! You found him! I-I mean." The sound of GLaDOS clearing Her throat was heard. "You're back. Good. You can be such a moron. I'm surprised you survived." The sarcasm and unimpressed tone in Her voice annoyed Chell, and Wheatley looked pretty worn out just then. Fear was in his eyes and his posture was very straight and closed off. He wasn't open to speaking, which was odd for him.

"I'm bringing you up to me." GLaDOS said plainly and the elevator started moving up. Wheatley's facial expression didn't change and Chell stared at him, worried that he would be mad at her for this.

Soon the two were in GLaDOS's chamber and Wheatley stiffened up even more. GLaDOS motioned for the two of them to step out and as soon as they did, the elevator sunk into the ground and the floor closed behind them.

"Moron, come stand by me. Chell, you're free to go home. Be back next week. I'm going to try to find out what I'm going to do to work out some kind of agreement without him being so… free and in danger." GLaDOS glared daggers at Wheatley as he reluctantly made his way over to the angry AI.

Chell nodded, not willing to disagree with her at this point. "Keep him safe." She closed her mouth into a tight line before turning away. A portal opened behind her and she found herself in front of the elevator that would take her to the surface again. Tears stung her eyes. The look on Wheatley's face made her feel like she'd betrayed him, but nothing would make her turn back. She had to prepare for him. She would be back in a week and would bring him something from the surface. Something to pass his time. He must have been so lonely.

Regret filled her, but she left the facility with a heavy heart.


End file.
